3D printed mountain: enjoying scenic views from home!

The skiing season is in full swing and you are probably one of those who would love to reach summits, across the globe. Unfortunately, your bank account brings you back to earth.

With the newly launched website Terrainator, you may find a way to, at least, visualize your beloved relief on a daily basis.

Its originator, Dan Wilson, is a London-based web and mobile designer. On his web page, one can see his motto: “happy working anywhere in the stack, but particularly enjoys building beautiful, innovative client-side apps using cutting-edge browser technologies”.

This thinking, combined with a recent experience working for the London-based start-up MakieLab, specialized in creating objects using game technologies and transformingthem into 3D-printable toys, gave birth to Terrainator.

Dan explains what triggered this idea: “I've had the good fortune to be able to visit some gorgeous places over the last few months, including Yosemite in California, and Tignes in the French Alps. Having been steeped in the world of 3D-printing at MakieLab last year, I naturally wondered whether I could make tiny scale models of these places to remember them by. I've just launched The Terrainator — a site which lets you do just that!”

The Terrainator website allows people to select their favorite mountain among existing models. It can then be 3D printed directly from this platform.

Currently available mountains include the UK (roots of Dan Wilson), the Alps and the western-half of the US. More are regularly added by Dan.

One therefore understands that Terrainator has its limitations and Dan explains the reason behind: “Given that this is a side-project, I've had no qualms in requiring a modern WebGL-capable browser. Unfortunately that means no support for Internet Explorer, Safari (at least in its default state), or iOS. I've got plenty ideas of how to improve The Terrainator — better coverage, bigger prints, accurate colourization, buildings — but do get in touch if there's something in particular you're after!”

The price of such 3D printed mountain will vary depending on the size you want, but a small, three-inch square 3D printed model costs about $45. Largely affordable for a “sky view” of your beloved mountain … from home.